This is the fourth iteration of this event, which was first staged in 2013. It was part of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) in 2015, but has withdrawn from that series till further notice. Karjakin won the first two events in 2013 and 2014, but was unable to participate in 2015 due to not being in the GCT. Veselin Topalov won in 2015.

When

Norway Chess is being played from 19 April 2016 until 29 April 2016. The preliminary blitz tournament: Norway Blitz (2016) that determines starting colors was played on 18 April. That event was won by Carlsen with 7.5/9, his only loss being the last round game with Giri.

Where

The event, a category XXI (2770) tournament, will be played in the city of Stavanger in the region of Stavanger in Norway. The first six rounds will be staged in the Stavanger Forum, while the final three rounds will be held in the Stavanger Concert Hall.

There was some uncertainty if Eljanov would have a rating for this tournament due to the suspension of Ukraine by FIDE because of monetary arrears. However, the Ukrainian ratings were to be nullified with effect from the next rating period starting 1 May 2016, (1), after the tournament ended and so Eljanov's current (April 2016) rating stood for the duration of the event.

Carlsen led for most of the event until round 8 when he lost to Aronian to allow the latter to draw level with 5/8. The last round saw Carlsen defeat Eljanov and Aronian draw with Harikrishna enabling Carlsen to win Norway Chess for the first time.

Ok, I didn't look down far enough. His results from '78 to '86 are pretty astounding.

And yes, I have great respect for his play. As a positional player myself( I started as a young Tal without the ability) I find Karpov's style to be simple and beautiful.

I remember a game where until near the end of the game he only exchanged a single pawn, and then he exchanged a piece or two and his opponent resigned. He had such a dominating position the game was over before the tactics even started!!!!

So don't misunderstand my statement as my not having a respect of Karpov, and in fact I was confused as to his record when I first glanced at the page- thinking I had gone down far enough when really I hadn't.

Eyal: <Everett> When I mentioned shared firsts I was referring to the period following the rise of the Anand-Ivanchuk-Kramnik-Topalov generation; but yeah - Kasparov had several shared firsts during his 80s streak as well - one with Psakhis, as already noted by <perfidious>, two with Karpov and two with Ljubo.

And indeed, Karpov also won a ridiculous number of tournaments - according to my count it's 43 during a nearly identical period (71-96; for Kasparov it's 81-05). I would note, however, that 1.Whereas nearly all the tournaments won by Kasparov would count as super-tournaments by today's standards, many of those won by Karpov during the 70s wouldn't quite (usually they included a larger percentage of relatively weak local players and fewer elite players - not his "fault," of course, that's how tournaments were typically organized then); and 2.His overall winning percentage is very far from Kasparov's 80% (41/51); if we isolate the period between 71 and 85, however, he comes close - 26/34 (76%)

jphamlore: Tomashevsky in the Russian Men Team Championship as Black against Artemiev just played a game worthy of a modern version of Chernev's Logical Chess: Move by Move, even winning as Black against a (transposed) Giuoco Piano.

jphamlore: Everything I have read about how to develop chess prodigies seems unanimous on their having the gifts of focus and concentration, of being able to teach themselves the game. Magnus Carlsen apparently showed little interest in chess until one day he suddenly did have it, and then he was off to the races devouring everything about the game.

Everything I have read also seems fairly unanimous that the right way is to start first with chess puzzles, not full games. And then the true nature of the chess prodigy takes over when the kid by himself works out endgames playing within the rules. I have read this about Capablanca, who had been given a book of endgames as one of his few early formal resources, about Smyslov, and I suspect about Carlsen as well.

For the vast majority who regard learning endgames as work and something maybe to be done later to grudgingly improve one's game, there will be no chance of a future world champion. For the blessed few who innately regard learning endgames as fun and play, from these might arise a future champion.

jphamlore: Also I would hope it is fairly common knowledge by now that many great players from the former Soviet Union credit Averbakh and Beilin's <Journey to the Chess Kingdom> as their first successful chess book, and this book has now been translated into English. To show the nature of either having the gift or not having it, Boris Gelfand's father was under the impression that Boris Gelfand was not interested in chess, but he couldn't have been more wrong:

<Gelfand: There’s a wonderful children’s textbook, probably the best in history – “Journey to the Chess Kingdom”. My dad, who really loved the game, began to go through a diagram a day with me. One evening I told him that I wanted to study something else. Well, he thought the boy had cooled towards the chessboard and pieces. He told my mum that chess hadn’t interested Boris. My dad couldn’t even imagine that I’d gulped down the whole book in one day and therefore wanted something new.>

Jambow: <Kasparov was beaten convincingly by Kramnik in their World Championship match.>

Much less so than Carlsen vs. Anand and in their over all score Kasparov has the edge. So yes Kramnik knew what it took to win against Kasparov, just barely and yet he couldn't come close to dominating the entire field like Carlsen has.

Kramnik deserves his due, but he falls behind Magnus's accomplishments already and I suspect the void will only increase. Kasparov has a better over all legacy than Kramnik and I would argue at this point than Magnus too. I like a dominant champ Magnus is that champ. Anand had been for a spell, but was just one of the elite for a good while and Magnus was already clearly the stronger player for a time. Yet Vishy held the title to long through no fault of his own, it was FIDE's inability to conduct a valid selection process that was to blame.

Sokrates: Kramnik-Kasparov. Convincingly beaten? On a psychological level: absolutely. Chesswise, I am not that sure. I think the Berlin somehow staggered Kasparov mentally. He so much wanted to prove Kramnik wrong in that opening that he kept trying stubbornly instead of switching to something else and let Kramnik have that "victory".

While Kramnik's victory over Kasparov cannot be questioned, his reign as a champ wasn't exactly triumphant - and certainly not in the same league as his predecessors, the two K's.

In my - admittedly very subjective - opinion, Kramnik's star will fade in comparison with K, K, Anand, and Carlsen.

morfishine: <john barleycorn> On this ignorant comment: <now, morfishine that you made it a premium member through courtesy of <Mark> you should try to display appropriate behaviour and/or intelligence. Stop being a poor little fool> The next time you want to open your fat mouth and spew your vomit, you may want to do your homework first. I've been a premium member here long before your pathetic self wandered in.

Stick to the Rogoff pages, thats more your speed

Sorry for the slow reply, but there's just so many imbeciles to attend to

Last time I blogged with three rounds left of Norway Chess in Stavanger, and the finish turned out to be both exciting and successful for me. Maybe playing on home turf takes more energy. Anyhow, for some reason I was not in good shape in round 7 and 8. In round 7 I got the chance to play a novelty by Hammer against Kramnik. He didn’t find the best defense, and already after some 15 moves the rest was plain sailing for me. Not so in round 8. Aronian played an interesting variation as white and showed the creative style he is capable of. I did not respond well. I lost a pawn in the middle game, and short on time I blundered away the rest, having missed a mate threat down the line.

Against Eljanov in the last round, I needed to win, and fortunately I felt in good shape and very optimistic. I managed to gradually outplay him to secure my first Norway Chess victory! Once again I like to thank the organizer for this great elite event in Stavanger.>

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